The Red Strings of Fate
by Blushy-Writer
Summary: This follows the lives of Sasuke and Karin from Karin's point of view. Karin falls in love with Sasuke all over again after his apology, but she can't help but wonder if he really meant what he said. While she worries over this, Sasuke is trying to figure out how he truly feels about Karin. Note: Takes place after the war; Sasuke is Hokage, Madara and Naruto are both dead. ADOPTED.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Even she herself didn't know why she chose to forgive him.

That horrid memory when he betrayed her would come back to her at the oddest moments. She felt like crying every time she allowed herself to think of that. It was painful, too painful. Sure, she knew that Sasuke was beginning to change before that happened, she'd sensed his chakra getting darker... Scarier... But she didn't want to think about that. Though she wouldn't admit it, she loved him. She would always follow him. Even though she would never say this, she even had trouble admitting it to herself, but it was true.

She was willing to stay by his side no matter what happened.

Only when he actually stabbed her did it fully register on her mind that Sasuke had truly changed. The evil look in his eyes proved that, his disregard for her and the rest of his "organization". How could he? Why? After all they've been through together? To just turn his back on her like she was nothing to him. Was that all she was to him?

"Karin, you're nothing but worthless to me if you can be taken hostage," was all he said to her with that sick, maniacal look in his eyes.

She remembered seeing the candy pink haired girl sobbing as she healed her, and thought of her as pathetic. Crying in front of the enemy, showing your emotions so freely like that and letting them get in the way of the goal of the mission, whatever that goal was. She calls herself a shinobi? Please. Karin wasn't one to talk though, she too felt like crying, but Karin was a big girl. Big girls didn't cry.

She stayed silent as she watched the kunoichi cry, listening to the battle between Sasuke and his former sensei below her. She almost didn't want the girl to heal her, what was the point anyways? She'll be taken back to konohagakure, interrogated most likely, then be held as a prisoner of war.

Though these things didn't scare her in the least. What she was really saddened about was that she'll never see Sasuke again.

And as she leaned back against the wall of the bridge and listened to the fighting going on down below, she found herself worrying over Sasuke again.

_'Sasuke, I healed your wounds, but if you continue like this...'_ she realized what she was thinking and mentally shook herself, looking down at the ground in front of her, _'No, I don't care about him anymore,'_ she mentally reminded herself, her hands clenching into fists by her side.

'_I only wanted to see his smile again._' She found herself thinking as she closed her crimson eyes and let her body lean forward a bit.

* * *

She was locked away in prison for how long now? She lost count of the days. But she didn't allow herself to sink into a deep depression. She wasn't just wasting time in that prison cell, she was plotting her escape. Sasuke did plague her thoughts almost everyday, but she tried her best not to think about him as she paced around her cell. No, she wouldn't think about him. She was angry, and hurt, but she knew that one thing was for sure.

She still loved him.

Outside the prison walls, the fourth great shinobi war raged on. The majority of Konohagakure's ninja were out on the battle field, fighting. It was the perfect opportunity to get out.

After she managed to, she was trying to figure out where she should go next. As she walked through the village, she sensed a familiar chakra, and almost didn't believe herself. She checked again, reading the familiar chakra over and over again, but there was no doubting it. It was him!

Sasuke.

He was in the village?

Okay, she had two choices.

Walk away. Just walk away and pretend that she didn't sense anything. Go live a healthy and happy life somewhere far away from here and never have to hear from or see Sasuke Uchiha ever again.

Then there was the second choice, she could confront, yell at, and demand answers from the Uchiha.

And of course, she chose the ladder.

* * *

She flew in there ready to kick some ass. She had ran up and kicked Suigetsu right across the face, then proceeded to pound on him, taking out all her anger and frustration that was directed at Sasuke on Suigetsu. She was yelling things, some of them which she didn't remember, but she knew a "I'll never forgive you!" was thrown in there. She expected him to just stare at her with that emotionless face of his, but then he did something that she did not expect.

"I'm sorry, Karin."

His apology had shocked her so much, she did something she never expected herself to do. She forgave him. She forgave him for what he did to her, and even smiled at him and told him that 'it was okay'. Maybe it was because of the drugs she was still on, because she knew that he was still speaking half gibberish, but she forgave him. She was more shocked to see Orochimaru with him, did Sasuke revive him for some reason? Whatever, she only cared about Sasuke now.

She analyzed his chakra again, and found herself inwardly smiling. His chakra changed again, it was back to the way it was before the kage summit. He was back to his old self, there wasn't any insane look in his eyes like last time.

She abandoned Suigetsu there and ran to Sasuke as Orochimaru pointed out the obvious, "I see that Sasuke-kun is still your soft spot."

"C- Can't help it," Karin had mumbled as she leaned on him and hugged him tightly, she felt his body tense up in discomfort but he didn't push her away Which made her happy in some sense. The kages were talking about... Something, but she didn't pay much attention to them. She was busy gazing at Sasuke in wonder, thinking about what could've happened to make him turn back to his old self.

Either way, she was happy.

* * *

Karin stood back and watched Sasuke and his former teammates fight the Juubi and Madara. She stayed back, tending to the weak and healing their wounds. The only reason she was doing so was because Sasuke told her to. She felt slightly jealous a how well Sasuke worked with Naruto and Sakura, especially with how much Sakura was being all gushy towards Sasuke already. Just who did that girl think she was? She turned away however as she continued healing some random shinobi's wounds, her crimson eyebrows drawn together and a sour look on her attractive face.

She didn't think much of Sasuke's declaration of being Hokage. Though she herself as shocked, she didn't believe that he actually meant it. But, she hadn't seen Sasuke be more serious about anything before. She wondered why Sasuke wanted to be Hokage, his goal was to destroy konoha not a week ago, right? Now she was all confused, but of course, didn't linger on the thought for too long.

The battle raged on, more and more of Konohgakure's allies fell. The fight between Madara and Hashirama was intense, btu she tried her best to stay as far away from them as possible. Sometime during the battle, Sasuke was severely injured. Karin finfished healing the shinobi she was working on and rushed over to him. She had a sense of deja vu as she pulled up her shirt sleeve, "Here, hurry up and bite me!" she commanded him and offered her arm to him.

He obeyed and leaned up, biting down into her arm. Karin cried out and threw clenched her hand, but let him suck the chakra right from her It was only then when she noticed now much of her chakra was gone, she probably used it up on all the shonobi she healed. Once she was done, she released the breath of air she hadn't realized shed been holding in and slumped forward a bit.

Sasuke wiped his mouth and pushed himself to his feet, his wounds now healed, "Thanks for that, Karin," was all he said.

"Yeah, sure," she mumbled softly.

That was the only interaction the two had during the entirety of the war. Other then him giving her the occasional orders, they didn't really talk one-on-one really. She wanted to talk more about his apology, but there was no time for that. So she continued to follow what he told her to do, just like before.

Why was she listening to his orders? She thought to herself at some point later on in the war. Then she remembered that she already forgave Sasuke for all he did. She tried not to think about it, and pushed those thoughts away. She already decided to stay by Sasuke's side from now on, but she couldn't help but wish that Sasuke's apology was a bit more... Sincere.

She bit her lip, no, that was selfish of her to think. At least she gotten some form of apology. It was unlike Sasuke to be the one to apologize, and him saying he was sorry was enough for her.

At least, that's what she told herself.

* * *

Now, she found herself standing behind Sasuke, staring at the back of his head. Though, he was silent, everyone was silent. She knew why, too. So she didn't dare to say anything as she let her crimson eyes fall to what he was staring at on the ground.

Naruto Uzumaki and Madara Uchiha's lifeless bodies lay there. They died in a huge explosion that was caused when their jutsu's clashed. Karin herself felt little bit sad, she had grown a liking to Naruto Uzumaki. His kind nature yet happy cheerful attitude was refreshing. Though she could only feel relief that Sasuke was not hurt. She licked her lower lip and adjusted her glasses, just waiting to see what would happen now.

Sasuke shifted, and a murmur slipped past his lips. Karin thought she misheard him at first, but no, he definitely said it.

"I'm sorry, Naruto."

He then turned away from his fallen teammate and looked at his old companions, not sparing her a glance as he declared, "My mind is now made up," he straightened up as if he just hardened his resolve, "I will become hokage, and I will better this village in honor of both my brother and Naruto. I don't care what any of you think of me."

Silence was met with his declaration. Awkward silence. It was obvious that almost everyone present disagreed that Sasuke would become hokage. She could see on the pink haired girls face that she too doubted that he would become hokage. Yet she claimed to love him, it didn't seem like she truly loved him, ore like a twelve year old crush sort of love.

Karin knew she loved Sasuke.

She would stand by him no matter what.

It was fate, she was sure of it.

* * *

**A/N**: As you see, the prologue is sort of a short overview of what happened before, and what happened during the war. I didn't want to get too into what happened during the war, but I think I covered everything. This is of course, Sasuke/Karin, so no bashing please.

Don't forget to hit that sexy review button ;D

**A/N #2:** I adopted this story from TeddyBear216, who cannot finish it on her own. I'm reposting the first two chapters, which belong to her, but the rest will be written by me. Peace!


	2. Chapter 1: I'm Such An idiot

**Chapter One**

_5 years later..._

Karin sighed softly to herself as she walked through the aisles of Konohagakure's library. She was feeling bookish today and decided to see what books she could find here. It was one of her rare days in which she had a free schedule. She reached up and pulled out a book with a red cover, skimming through it as she kept walking.

She wasn't watching where she was going and ran right into someone. She twitched in annoyance and looked up from her book, "Oi! Watch where you're go-" she cut herself off sharply and a fair blush spread on her cheeks.

Sasuke stared down blankly at her. He wore his usual attire; a long black coat with red flames on the bottom, black pants, a black open shirt tucked in, and his hokage hat on. Karin wondered why he was not in the office as he replied, "You were the one too busy looking through that book to watch where you were going."

Karin's annoyance returned, "Hmph! What are you even doing out of your office today?" she questioned him and put a hand on her hip, looking up into those black eyes of his as she continued, "You shouldn't be slacking off when you have so much to do, Hokage-sama," though she did use the honorific, the scolding in her tone was still there. Like she was reprimanding a child.

Sasuke continued to stare at her silently before giving her a short answer, "I had some free time. Not that it's any of your business."

Karin scoffed, "Like I care!" she says and adjusts her glasses. After another long moment of silence, Karin walked off, brushing past him and putting the book down on a random shelf, not caring to read anymore. Though it was unseen, she turned her head to the left slightly to look back at Sasuke - who was now looking through a shelf of thick looking books.

A smile teased the corner of her lips as she turned away and left the library.

Alot has happened over the course of five years. Konohagakure was left in devastation after the fourth shinobi war, but as always, the civilization was able to rebuild itself and rise from the ashes of war. The people were grieving from their lost teammates, friends, and lovers. Konoha was lost without someone to lead it. Sasuke quickly took charge, and with the help of his old companions and of course, Karin, he was able to pick Konoha up and gain the title of Hokage. A title he deserved. Some were skeptical of him, but most viewed him as a hero of war. All charges against him were dropped. He was no longer the S-ranked rogue ninja that went insane and attacked the kage summit, and killed Danzo. He was now Sasuke Uchiha, the man that saved Konoha's people in the war and the greatest hero known. Once Sasuke had gained the title of Hokage, he made changes to the village as he promised to. He didn't kill the elders like he wanted to before, but removed them from power. He allowed no killing of any kind within the village, even in the ANBU. Though it was hard, and of course people break laws, it was peaceful.

All thanks to Sasuke.

As for Suigetsu and Jugo; Suigetsu went off once Sasuke gained the title of Hokage. He still wanted to collect all the Seven Mists' Swordsmen's swords. They haven't seen him in a long time now; though he did say that he might visit one day in the future. Jugo stayed in Konoha and works as Sasuke's assistant or something like that. He said so himself that protecting Sasuke was his first priority.

Karin was pulled out her thoughts upon arriving home. She walked in and closed the door behind her, slipping off her shoes as she walked into her bedroom. Her kitten, a small white Tabby she adopted not long ago, lounged on her large bed. Seemingly asleep. She chuckled and looked at herself in her vanity.

Her long red hair was pulled into a high ponytail. She usually left it down; but she preferred it being out her face. She had gotten rid of her old outfit and was now wearing standard black ninja pants, black shoes, a chunin jacket over a fishnet tank top. She'd retaken the chunin exams not long ago, and of course passed it pretty easily.

Suddenly, her image was replaced with one that was Sasuke. She saw the maniacal eyes, the evil grin, his hand extended as if...

A gasp flew from her lips, startling her kitten awake, as her hand flew up on instinct to her chest. She backed away from the mirror and blinked in shock. The image was gone as suddenly as it appeared. She glared at the mirror, expecting the image to appear again.

It didn't. She turned away from her mirror, her crimson eyes downcast. She was doing it again. It was happening to her again. She hated that she kept remembering that moment even though it happened over five years ago. Why couldn't her mind let it go? She kept remembering it at weird times, she even had the occasional nightmares of it happening. Sasuke had apologized; so she shouldn't keep holding unto something that happened so long ago. It was a stupid, childish thing for her to do.

She sank to her knees, her teeth gritted so that she wouldn't cry. She never been the one to cry. So many kunoichi out there claim to be great shinobis's, but they allow themselves to be ruled by their emotions. Karin never allowed herself to be like that. But when these memories suddenly start to flood her, she couldn't help but feel sad.

_**"See ya."**_

She opened her eyes and stared dully at the carpet in front of her, '_I'm such an idiot.' _

* * *

Karin jumped off another tree branch and landed on the next. She sat in a crouch there, in the shade of a rather tall willow tree. The only sounds she could hear were the soft chirping of bird in the distance and the soft rustle of leaves all around her. It was dawn, the sun was beginning to set. She lost track of her teammates but she could manage on her own.

The mission was to take care of a band of bandits that were harassing a village nearby konohagakure. The group of bandits had at least fifty members, but they were just bandits. Sasuke also wanted at least one captured and taken in for questioning. Easy to take care of. So far, she's run into and taken care of at least fifteen, and she didn't know how many her teammates ran into. She could always find them later on. The mission comes first though.

She held up to fingers to her mouth and closed her eyes. Her senses stretched out and automatically found the presence of five bandits.

_'Oh? They have me surrounded eh?'_ she thought to herself and smirked as if it was funny. She pinpointed their locations easily, now all she had to do was wait for them to attack.

Right on cue, three kunai flew at her from somewhere to her left. Knowing that they had all her sides covered except for above her, she jumped out the way and into the air. In midair now, she threw four kunai at the spot where the kunai before came at her. A cry of pain echoed through the forest and two bandits fell from the tree and to the ground below. They might've been dead, they might still be alive, she didn't much care.

Two of them decided to reveal themselves and jumped up to her right and left. Karin had anticipated this, and sent a harsh kick towards the one on her left. She sent the one flying downwards, knocking into the fifth one that was probably waiting for an opening to attack. This sent them both tumbling to the ground and landing in a heap. She blocked a punch that was sent her way, with her left forearm, and took this opportunity for her next attack. She pulled out an explosive tag and slammed it unto his forehead before grabbing him by his shirt and throwing him roughly down to join his subordinates on the ground.

"Hmph! Sorry," Karin scoffed as she jumped off a branch, higher into the air as the tag exploded right in their faces. They were dead, there was no doubt about that.

As the smoke rose from where there bodies used to be, Karin straightened up and watched the smoke swirl and dissipate into the air.

"Karin-chan!" A call from somewhere in the forest made her turn around to see her temporary teammates had caught up to her.

"Took ya long enough," Karin scoffed and scowled as she glared underneath her glasses at Shikamaru Nara and Rock Lee, "How many did you get rid of?"

"Thirty," Shikamaru informed her. Karin noticed that they had a few scratches and even some deep cuts. Shikamaru cat a cut over his eyebrow and Lee was bleeding from his arm. But his eyes shone from the light of battle still.

"I took down at least twenty," she looked down at the ground to see that one of the bandits had managed to survive the explosion, but he was losing consciousness even though he was trying to crawl away. Looked pathetic, really.

"Impressive! The light of youth burns brightly within you!" Lee says before Shikamaru could reply, holding up a fist in the air.

Karin sweatdropped. Lee was a bit too much for her at times, his youthful-ness got on her nerves not to mention his loud personality. Though he did annoy her at times, she was glad to see that he was doing better. He was a bit depressed for awhile after both his teammates died in the fourth shinobi war five years ago, but it seemed like he was doing better.

"I guess we'll take that one in for questioning then," Shikamaru says as he looked down at the bandit as well before returning his brown eyed gaze to her, "Next time, we should all at least try to stick together, you know? It's a waste of time trying to find each other. What if you got hurt and we weren't around to help you?"

A flash of anger went through Karin and her cheeks heated up in anger and embarrassment, "I can take care of myself thank you very much! Hmph!" she turned her back on him sharply, "Let's just hurry up and get the guy so we can go back home already, alright?" she grumbled and huffed.

Shikamaru sighed, "Yeah, yeah," he mumbled and jumped down from the branch.

* * *

"Nice work you three," Sasuke says apathetically as he leaned back in his desk chair and stared at Karin, Shikamaru, and Lee from where he sat, "You guys should go get your wounds checked and take it easy for the rest of the night." he adds as he crossed his arms over his chest. Karin couldn't help but admire how hot Sasuke looked in his hokage cloak, something she did every time she saw him.

But, she avoided looking at him for some reason. She kept remembering the image she saw in her mirror earlier on, and she feared that if she looked directly at him, she'd see it again. So instead she looked off to the side and out the large window of the Hokage's office, as if what was going on out there was the most interesting thing to look at right now.

"Thank you, Sasuke-sama," Shikamaru mumbled, shifting in discomfort at uttering the name of the Uchiha like that. Shikamaru was one of the ones that were still skeptical about Sasuke, it was obvious that he still didn't trust him. But, as Sasuke said a long time ago, he still didn't care about what his classmates thought of him.

Shikamaru and Lee awkwardly bowed before they turned and left the office. Karin bowed as well, not allowing for her eyes to meet Sasuke's as she turned away and followed after the two.

"Karin," Sasuke's voice made her stop in mid-step.

"Yes, sir?" she asked softly without looking back at him.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked. Though his voice was apathetic, she could detect some form of concern hidden in there. It warmed her heart a bit that he might actually care about her.

"I'm fine," Karin replied softly, "My wounds are just bothering me. Excuse me," she excused herself before hurrying out the office.

She closed the door behind her and leaned back on it, 'I'm such an idiot,' she thought to herself for the second time that day before pushing herself back up and heading towards the hospital to get her wounds treated.

* * *

Karin had never felt more awkward in her entire life then she felt right now.

She sat on the hospital bed, arm and leg inclined to get the wounds there treated by Sakura Haruno. Sakura Haruno was a pink haired medical ninja with a diamond shaped stud on her forehead* and her hair was pulled up and out of her face. Sakura also was madly in love with Sasuke. If she still was, Karin wasn't sure. Sakura was competition, and she didn't much care for her. The woman was twenty one and still single, which made Karin highly suspicious that she still had her sights set on Sasuke.

She felt very uncomfortable as the woman healed her. Normally, Karin would've not wasted her time and healed herself, but her chakra was all gone from the mission so this would have to do. The two women sat in absolute silence as Sakura focused on what she was doing and Karin focused on a point in the room where she didn't have to look at he pink headed ninja.

"There, all done," Sakura murmured as she finished up. Karin didn't look at her as Sakura wrapped the wound on her arm in a bandage, "You lost a fair amount of blood, but you should be okay. I think you should rest for the night, would you like to stay here?"

"No, I'm going home, thank you," Karin replied awkwardly after a moment of silence as she took her arm back and got off the bed.

Sakura nodded as the redhead waled across the room and to the door. She slid the door open before she paused in the doorway. She had a question and she wanted a answer.

"Do you still love him?" the woman asked bluntly without turning around to look at her.

There was a moment of silence before Sakura spoke up, "... I- I'm not sure," Karin could tell by the way her voice sounded that she'd shocked her.

"It's a yes or a no question," Karin said, there was no way she'd be satisfied with an answer as pathetic as that one.

There was another, and slightly longer, moment of silence before Sakura spoke up in a small but timid voice, "Y- Yeah, I think so."

Karin's grip tightened on the doorknob. That. That was the one thing that pissed her off mostly about this girl. She didn't turn to look at her as she said, "I know that I love Sasuke so just give him up," she looked over her shoulder, her eyes darkened to a glare underneath her glasses, "Sasuke doesn't need your half assed love."

With that being said and her point being made, Karin turned back around and left the room rather calmly, closing the door behind her.

* * *

**Key:**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_**

*Only those who read the latest chapter would understand this. If you hadn't you might wanna go and read it to understand.

**A/N:** While I'm glad that people ware favoriting and following, some reviews would be nice too :) It really does help me write more, not like I'm not going to write if I don't get any, but it helps! So, don't forget to send in a quick review if you take the time to read this! Thanks!

Next chapter coming out this week, or weekend if I have the time. ;)

**A/N #2:** Okay, I will post my chapter once I have it written. Don't forget to review please.


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